Did you know? April 25th was Arbor Day. Originally conceived by journalist Julius Sterling Morton in the USA, and celebrated for the first time in Nebraska in 1852, the United Nations adopted Arbor Day into its calendar in 1951. In Germany, President Theodor Heuss planted a maple tree in the Bonner Hofgarten during the first day of action in 1952. So much for the history of the day.

Trees? That’s nice, but ...

We have to admit: Most of us are not really that interested in trees. They look nice, give us shade, and are the green lungs of our world. But what else do they do? They drop resin on your car – and raking the leaves is not the most fun autumn activity one could imagine. The relationship between people and tree is, we might say, ambivalent.

Trees would probably agree. Trees might not see their lives with humans in such a positive light. Larger and larger areas are being paved over – it hasn’t been this easy to get a logging permit since the stone age. Of course, the alternative is not much better for trees. If they aren’t logged, they while away the hours lining a stuffy city street, or have to put up with the joggers and mountain bikers in the park. And if they are truly unlucky, they will end up as paper somewhere in a printer, and be printed with all sorts of unnecessary tables or other nonsense that will have served its purpose after an hour or so.

Printing? A Task We Can Do Without

It is true – for some time, we saw a wave of ecological interest in offices. “Think before you print” was the motto, and every e-mail had a note attached to keep recipients aware of their CO2 footprints and stimulate their ecological consciences. But as so often happens, interest waned, and wagging fingers went right back to clicking the “Print” button.

And all this in an era when the paperless office is closer than ever before. Digitised documents and workflows are a tree’s best friend. If we only introduced them comprehensively, our trees could get comfortable in their bark once again and take a deep breath. And so could we. This is an attitude EASY supported with a tree sponsorship event, under the motto: “Planting trees – instead of printing. Work paperlessly with EASY SOFTWARE.”

So: Let’s all pitch in. Just start printing less. The tree of the year for 2016, the basswood, is sure to thank you for it. It might not say so outright – perhaps just with a gentle rustling this summer – but it will give you one very important gift: Oxygen.